Chinpoko_Mon

Link

From www.digitalbits.com

We've got a couple of reviews coming later this afternoon. But first, I feel a rant coming on and I've just got to let it fly. So indulge me if you will. You Gen-Xers will understand this. You Gen-Y and Z guys just hang tight for a minute okay?

I wanted to comment on a story that's been posted at Ain't it Cool News this morning (also reported on The Force.net). Star Wars creator George Lucas appeared last night at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood in honor of the opening night of a week-long tribute to ILM and Skywalker Sound by the American Cinematheque. According to many that were there, Lucas reportedly confirmed that the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies (as we all remember them from 1977, 1980 and 1983), will never appear on DVD. They're lost to time, replaced by his new and still-in-development ultimate, final "super special editions". The outraged reaction from fans is, of course, predictable... and entirely justified.

This plan isn't particularly new - Lucas has vaguely (and not so vaguely) hinted several times in recent years that this was his intent. But if that turns out to be his final decision, the result would be that the original experience that captured the imaginations of an entire generation of moviegoers would be lost forever. How can that make any Star Wars fan anything but sad... and absolutely, downright, steaming, pissed-off angry. Given the almost complete lack of charm the new prequels have compared to even the first edit of the rough-hewn, original film, the fact that Lucas would fail to preserve the original experience of Star Wars shows how utterly and completely he's lost sight of the point over the years.

Filmmakers have a responsibility to their audience and to cinema history. Lucas owes it to every single Star Wars fan that ever paid $5 for an action figure or $8 for a theater ticket to preserve the original experience. I don't care if he doesn't like them. We love them. I don't care if he owns them. In a equally real and important way, we own them too. They're part of our childhood! Steven Spielberg understood the importance of saving the original version of E.T., including it on DVD recently along with his "better" 2002 version. Lucas needs to follow his lead. Hey... don't get me wrong. I'm dying to see the new CGI-finished versions too. It's his right to make them the way he always wanted to, and I'm all for it. But he still needs to preserve the original versions. He owes it to the fans, he owes it to everyone who ever worked on the films, he owes it to film historians and he owes it to generations of film lovers as yet unborn.

You might have built the Empire, George... but your fans paid for it. While you're making us wait for YEARS for these fabled super-boffo special editions of the original films on DVD, WHY IN THE HELL don't you release a set of movie-only DVDs of the original theatrical versions of the films?!! Every Star Wars fan on Earth would gladly shell out their hard-earned cash for the original versions now. And then, in 3 years or 5 years, they'd all be happy to buy the super-deluxe versions too!

If you have the gall to tell me that these films that were so much a part of my childhood don't exist as I remember them anymore, that's just fine. But then I want my childhood back. I want a refund for every movie ticket, every poster, every T-shirt, every book, every piece-of-crap action figure and every single God-damned bubble-gum card I ever bought as a kid. I'll send you the bill.

I'll tell you this: I WILL NEVER BUY A DVD OF THESE FILMS THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL VERSIONS. I WON'T EVER REVIEW IT. I WON'T EVEN GIVE IT SO MUCH AS A GLANCE. If you're a fan and you're reading this right now and feel the same, you should speak out. Write letters, make phone calls, send e-mails... let George know exactly how you feel.

But as for me.... whatever. I've been a fan of Star Wars since I first saw it in 1977 as a fresh-faced, 10-year-old. It's been much more than a movie for me - it opened my eyes and fired my imagination. But I am SO done with it. What charm was left for me is finally gone. Lucas has officially killed it. I've been trying to hang with these new films, and have even defended them in my reviews of the DVDs. But now... you can finally count me out.

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oops.. should this have gone into the Entertainment News forum? doh...

OC

I'll write George a letter soon. I'd love to have the original Star Wars movies on DVD.

-OC

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mojo

i was about to say that i thought i saw the original trilogy on dvd at www.getvcds.com ...but they seem to be down at the moment

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ProMinx

yeah mojo, you can definitely find those dvds online (ebay most notably) but there is a definite loss of quality. I want an official DVD carrying the original versions of SW: A New Hope and SW: Empire Strikes Back. I don't want the special edition DVDs and I don't want the über edition either. I want my original cuts of each movie. Greedo did not shoot first.

ProMinx

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ProMinx

That website is back up, so I might buy all three of the unavailable DVDs that I saw: The Indiana Jones trilogy, the Star Wars trilogy (although unfortunately it is special edition...but at least Lucs doesn't make any money...), and Scarface.

ProMinx

Merlin

I've known that he would not release the originals, and that took no great insight. It really disappionts me as well.

I've thought about a rather unique solution to the problem. You can get great digital versions of the original movies on Laserdisc. In this day and age they will be a little difficult to find but they are out there. I had them a few years back when Laserdisc was the only real option for vidoephiles. Unfortunately they are lost to the years, but the point is they exist and if you have the energy you can probably find them. In essence the Laserdisc is every bit as high quality as a DVD. Rip that and burn it to a DVD. I'm sure many people would appreciate this.

I'm sure there is someone out there who know more about computer video transfers and can tell me if this is as easy as it sounds.

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coleslaw

The unofficial versions of the Star Wars DVDs that can be found on the internet are actually rips of the Laserdisc movies. Therefore, they are high-quality copies.

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Chinpoko_Mon

The Star Wars DVDs that are labelled DTS version without the "Special Edition" tags are the untouched original versions I think.

Hoser

The direct links for the DVDs at www.getvcds.com are:

http://www.getvcds.com/dvd/DVDSF07021008.shtml



http://www.getvcds.com/dvd/DVDSF04021002.shtml



The second set has DTS stereo, which is what I bought in December. When they were shipped to me the package listed 'Christmas Videos' as the contents. Maybe this was because these DVDs aren't supposed to be sold in the states. Both these sets are the newer releases.

mojo

well, if the quality is there, count me in. i've ordered from getvcds before and have been happy so far. and i know others that use them alla time.

my only thing with this deal is that the website lists them by the original release date. i guess i'm not that bad off tho since i have the original releases on vhs...so i'm due for the enhanced anyhow

gear02

Someone needs to shove Jar Jar up Lucas's ass. The man is bloody retarted and a complete money monger and sellout. Episodes 1 and 2 are just eye candy trash to sell product and the "super-duper special f*cking editions" of the first three movies are another attempt at merchandising and blatantly trying to strange every cent from his "beloved" star wars empire. The funny thing is that he doesn't understand that Star Wars itself is a treasure and we don't need new updated scenes of Luke swining his damn stick. He would make tons of money just selling DVDs of the original movies. Heck, I could even live with the special editions of the movies, but not a THIRD remake.

Seriously...can someone shove Jar Jar up his bloody ass??? It's people like him and those freaking Star Trek writers <cough>Berman</cough> who ruin great scifi universes.

Rant off.

i6s1

I couldn't give a rip if he adds another 3 minutes of stuff. Its quite a stretch to say that would ruin the original experience.

In any case, I'm sure someone will take the new SE2 "high-quality" versions, remove anything new, and splice in anything old from the LD. You'll get high-quality original versions somehow, so don't worry.

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ufcrusher

I guess it is a good thing that I have the original trilogy on laserdisc. I just hope that he does put the original films on the dvds...hell, he could even just make it as a big box set with his uber edition as its been called and the original released versions too.

Either way, so long as my laser disc player holds up I am happy.

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seqiro

Laserdisc is actually analog video, not digital video. The technology dates back to 1972!

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Merlin

Be that as it may laserdisc is still yields fantastic picture quality. And remember, movies are shot, for the most part, in analog so you don't lose any quality from the original. The same original that has to be converted to digital for DVD. If you can get me a perfect copy of a laserdisc I'd be very happy with the product.

seqiro

Well my point was that you can't really make a perfect copy of a laserdisc since the only way to copy is to play it back and resample it as opposed to a DVD which can be ripped. So the original laserdisc may look terrific (there are those who think that they look better than DVDs) a copy is going to have decreased quality.

In fact, there are always copies of the laserdiscs converted to DVD images floating around the usenet binaries groups, and from what I have seen of them the quality is decent and probably better than my legally purchased VHS tapes but not at all comparable to a studio released DVD.